New Data Suggests North Korea Has Much Bigger Atomic Bombs Than Anyone Thought

JoonganagNorth Korea may have conducted two secret nuclear weapons tests in 2010 as part of a program to build a more powerful bomb, according to a new radiation study.

Geoff Brumfiel at Nature reports that an analysis of data from an international network of raioisotopic monitoring stations and South Korea has identified two strains of radioactive isotopes that are generated during man-made explosions.

The suspected secret detonations would also have came at about the same time that North Korea made the unbelievable claim that it had created a nuclear fusion reaction, which western scientists have been attempting for decades.

The researcher behind the new radiation study, Lars-Erik De Geer, an atmospheric scientist at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, told Nature the findings suggests North Korea was testing materials and techniques to boost the power of its nuclear weapons.